Brian Schatz

My guess is that Pelosi will be the Speaker starting in January. That's predicated on two things happening-- that the Democrats take back the House and that a majority of House Democrats elect her to be their leader again.

"The Republicans," explained Kyle Kulinski last week, "have shifted further right to some weird brew of theocracy and authoritarianism and fascism and outright oligarchy." He forgot kakistocracy and kleptocracy but no need to quibble.

The news from Hawaii yesterday was great. Progressive Senator Brian Schatz beat corrupt conservative New Dem Colleen Hanabusa in the two Puna precincts on the Big Island that didn't vote in last weekend's primary because of Tropical Storm Iselle. Schatz went into yesterday's vote with a 1,635 vote lead. While Hanabusa spent the week whining about "voter irregularities" and making all sorts of demands to change the voting rules, Schatz was in Puna helping his constituents with storm recovery.

The William M. Colmer Middle School is in Pascagoula, Mississippi. 46% of the students are African-Americans and 15% are Hispanic. 79% of the students are eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch program, somewhat higher than the average for Mississippi (71%). The school is named for Representative William M. Colmer who died on September 9, 1980 (age 90) and is buried at Machpelah Cemetery right their in Pascagoula.

Today is primary day in Hawaii. Iselle hit Friday but had lost some ferocity and came in as a tropic storm. With the exception of the polling sites at Hawaii Paradise Community Center and Keone-opoko Elementray School on the Big Island, all polling sites will be open from 7AM 'til 6 PM. Hurricane Julio is also weakening slightly but may hit the Big Island tomorrow. The rare twin storms shouldn't hold down turnout in the election. And today's contests couldn't be clearer.

New Dem Colleen Hanabusa has built a political career not based on values or principles but on mutual backscratching and ugly corruption.

Hawaii's primary is August 9, a week from Saturday. Saturday? Sure, that's how to encourage voter participation in a democracy-- have the elections when people aren't working. Conservatives are generally terrified at the prospect of more people voting-- especially working class people-- so they tend to block legislation like Hawaii's. Hawaii is a pretty progressive state, first to mass a $10.10 minimum wage, first to start the process of marriage equality. The Republican Party is pretty moribund there and the Democratic Party has been in charge since 1962.

Down in every poll, unable to get even a single woman senator to endorse her rotgut campaign against progressive Senator Brian Schatz, corrupt New Dem Colleen Hanabusa is eager to talk about anything other than her record in Congress because her record is so awful.

There may not be a more important Democratic primary this summer than the August 9th election in Hawaii as incumbent progressive Senator Brian Schatz faces a challenge from Rep.

Colleen Hanabusa’s brief tenure in Congress has been notable mostly for the brazen loyalty she’s shown to defense contractors and her unequivocal support for more military spending.Since taking office in 2011, representing Hawaii’s First Congressional District, she’s compiled one of the worst voting records on war and peace of any Democrat, according to ProgressivePunch.So, to anyone who’s been paying attention to her career, it was galling to see two of the best journalists in the